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Hi Olivier,<br>
<br>
I always thought it was a good idea, and you did a nice overview.<br>
That would be a big +1 for, me, mainly because there is a big
redundancy between these two features.<br>
<br>
Also, I think that the identify modes should be cleaned up.<br>
The new "layer slection" mode is very useful and does solve the
problem of opening the right layer attributes table. I have seen
many old-time users not aware of its existence, but when they
discover it they use this one only.<br>
I wonder if we should not keep this one only.<br>
<br>
Thanks for bringing this up!<br>
<br>
Denis<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 03. 04. 14 00:17, Olivier Dalang
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAExk7p3J-9Ji2ZMbFjoUAvcO9iZbWzpvc1hbUgEaeB-gMQyLNg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">Hi !<br>
<br>
The discussions about this issue <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://hub.qgis.org/issues/9907">http://hub.qgis.org/issues/9907</a>
raised the question (at least for me) of merging the concepts of
Identified features and Selected features.
<div>
<br>
</div>
<div>I don't know if it's the good moment to discuss this, but
since we have a few other threads talking about a bit more
deep user interaction changes, I thought it could be good to
think of this also (even if it's not urgent)...<br>
<br>
In short, the idea would be to have both identified features
and selected features be exactly the same thing.
<div>The only difference between the select tool and the
identify tool would then be that the identify tool opens a
form window (either the single feature form or the attribute
table in form mode).<br>
The identify tool could then also work in
"single","rectangle","polygon" etc modes.
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
Rationale FOR:</div>
<div><br>
<div><span style="font-weight:bold">1. There is already a
feature overlap</span></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>When identifying one feature only, the "identify
tool" can open the form (provided "open feature form if
a single feature is identified" is checked). But when
identifying several features, the way to go is a
selection, which dynamically refreshes the attribute
table, and where the features can be edited in the form
mode.</div>
<div>This is also a problem in the scenario of issue #9907
: to open the form of overlapping features, you have to
use a selection, if you don't want to spend too many
clicks expanding the "identify window" tree, finding the
right feature, and clicking on it's "open feature form"
button. This also has the annoying consequence of being
unpredicable : the effect of the tool will sometimes be
opening the form (when one feature gets identified), and
sometimes to open that "identifying results" window
(when several features got identified).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><b>2. The attribute table in form mode is actually
great</b></div>
<div><b><br>
</b></div>
<div>
<div>The "identify results" window is not very
practical: the folded tree requires expanding, it does
not provide a good overview of what is selected, does
not take editing widgets into account etc.</div>
<div>Meanwhile, the form view is great (both the single
feature form and the multiple features form in the
attribute table). It's clear, neat, even allows to
choose which field to use to list the selection,
etc... It's sad that it's a bit hidden in the UI, I
find it one of the best additions to the UI that has
been made lately.</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><b>3. Both functions are very similar in how they
work and look</b></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Both require you to click on a feature, and have a
visual feedback consisting of highlighting the feature.
It's very confusing for beginners as it's uncommon for
softwares to implement two different types of
selections.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><b>4. Having the attribute table in form mode for
editing is promising for the future</b></div>
<div><b><br>
</b></div>
<div>Because we could implement edition on several feature
at once (currently, one needs a plugin to set an
attribute on different features at once, and those
plugin do not yet take the field widgets into account).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Rationale AGAINST (and of course counterarguments) :</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><b>1. Identification is not the same than selection</b></div>
<div>Users sometimes want to work on a selection, while
still being able to identify features.</div>
<div>To allow this usage, either we could offer workaround
features by implementing store/restore selections and/or
have selections in the undo stack (grouped), or we could
make an exception for the "identify single feature",
which would not set the selection, but only open the
feature form (current behavior).</div>
<div><b><br>
</b></div>
<div><b>2. Identification would stop working across
several layers (top-down mode)</b></div>
<div>Since it is difficult to imagine having the attribute
table window display selections from several layers.
Technically, it would be doable in the form view, since
it does show only one form at a time, but it may be more
clear simply to remove this possibility.</div>
<div>However, we could keep the current behaviour when
using "identify single feature" though. This tool's
behviour could keep the same functions that currently,
adding the feature #9907 and an "open attribute table in
form mode even if only one feature is selected" option.
(to be clarified)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I guess I missed some uses of the "identify results"
window ?<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>What do you think ?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best regards,</div>
<div>
<br>
</div>
<div>Olivier</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
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<br>
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